A magnificent wartime love story about the forces that brought the author’s parents together and those that nearly drove them apart Marianne Szegedy-Maszák’s parents; Hanna and Aladár; met and fell in love in Budapest in 1940. He was a rising star in the foreign ministry—a vocal anti-Fascist who was in talks with the Allies when he was arrested and sent to Dachau. She was the granddaughter of Manfred Weiss; the industrialist patriarch of an aristocratic Jewish family that owned factories; were patrons of intellectuals and artists; and entertained dignitaries at their baronial estates. Though many in the family had converted to Catholicism decades earlier; when the Germans invaded Hungary in March 1944; they were forced into hiding. In a secret and controversial deal brokered with Heinrich Himmler; the family turned over their vast holdings in exchange for their safe passage to Portugal. Aladár survived Dachau; a fragile and anxious version of himself. After nearly two years without contact; he located Hanna and wrote her a letter that warned that he was not the man she’d last seen; but he was still in love with her. After months of waiting for visas and transit; she finally arrived in a devastated Budapest in December 1945; where at last they were wed. Framed by a cache of letters written between 1940 and 1947; Szegedy-Maszák’s family memoir tells the story; at once intimate and epic; of the complicated relationship Hungary had with its Jewish population—the moments of glorious humanism that stood apart from its history of anti-Semitism—and with the rest of the world. She resurrects in riveting detail a lost world of splendor and carefully limns the moral struggles that history exacted—from a country and its individuals. Praise for I Kiss Your Hands Many Times “I Kiss Your Hand Many Times is the sweeping story of Marianne Szegedy-Maszák’s family in pre– and post–World War II Europe; capturing the many ways the struggles of that period shaped her family for years to come. But most of all it is a beautiful love story; charting her parents’ devotion in one of history’s darkest hours.â€â€”Arianna Huffington; president and editor-in-chief; the Huffington Post Media Group “In this panoramic and gripping narrative of a vanished world of great wealth and power; Marianne Szegedy-Maszák restores an important missing chapter of European; Hungarian; and Holocaust history.â€â€”Kati Marton; author of Paris: A Love Story and Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America“How many times can a heart be broken? Hungarians know; Marianne Szegedy-Maszák’s family more than most. History has broken theirs again and again. This is the story of that violence; told by the daughter of an extraordinary man and extraordinary woman who refused to surrender to it. Every perfectly chosen word is as it happened. So brace yourself. Truth can break hearts; too.â€â€”Robert Sam Anson; author of War News: A Young Reporter in Indochina“This family memoir is everything you could wish for in the genre: the story of a fascinating family that illuminates the historical time it lived through. . . . Informative and fascinating in every way; [I Kiss Your Hands Many Times] is a great introduction to World War II Hungary and a moving tale of personal relationships in a time of great duress.â€â€”Booklist (starred review)
#392712 in Books Edvard Radzinsky 2001-12-04 2001-12-04Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.09 x 1.16 x 5.68l; 1.17 #File Name: 0385489102526 pagesPaperback in shades of brown and portrait of Rasputin
Review
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Fascination Examination of Grigori Rasputin from a New PerspectiveBy Musicals FreakThe author claims that a file of interviews with people who knew Rasputin turned up at auction in the 1990s after being missing for nearly 80 years. The files are heavily quoted in the book; allowing the reader to read the actual words of people who survived the Bolshevik revolution and were interviewed by them; including Rasputin's daughter; Tsaritsa Alexandra's dearest friends Yulia Dehn and Anna Vyrubova; Prince Felix Yussopov; Rasputin's housekeeper; and a multitude of other highly placed men and women who made up Rasputin's inner circle at various points in time. Rasputin is portrayed as being even more debauched that in othe books I have read on him. He was worse during his last year because he was quite sure that he was going to be murdered. The manner in which he made high society Petrograd ladies aware of their sinfulness in described by his live in housekeeper. Anna Vyrubova is not the dim witted young woman people thought; but a cunning; power hungry woman who was more than happy to help the tsaritsa set herself up to run the government while Nikolai II was running WWI from the front. Meanwhile; Rasputin was clever enough to figure out what Alexandra wanted; and so when she wrote letters to the tsar saying that Rasputin was in favor of this or that government appointment; it turns out he was only telling her what she wanted to hear. A number of myths surrounding Rasputin's assassination are debunked as well. The book is a transaltion from the original Russian; so some of the grammar and sentence construction are a bit off in some places. The Kindle edition also has numeroud typographical errors. But the book provides a gripping; new perspective on how influential Rasputin and Vyrubova really were. Highly recommended.2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. Rasputin ... Peasant Rascal?By M. L. GatesAlmost anyone knowledgeable of Russian history; especially around the beginning of the twentieth century; has heard stories about Rasputin and his "control" of the last Tsar of Russia. However; Radzinsky; who has meticulously (at least it seems so) researched Rasputin; challenges and refutes a number of tales about that supposedly powerful supernatural amorous peasant who ran the Russian government through the Tsar and particularly the Tsarina.In many ways; "The Rasputin File" is like a narrative based on a police report and some reviewers have criticized the book for being a long police report; but I believe Radzinsky tells a compelling and interesting story based on the investigation's file. While little is known about Rasputin's life prior to his arrival in Petrograd; but like a good investigator; Radzinsky pieces together what is known and presents the evidence.Most importantly the evidence seems to be presented evenhandedly and fairly; drawing upon the testimony of admirers and opponents who often had agendas when they wrote and talked about Rasputin. The story also seems to make sense ... would the "classist" nobility (Tsar and Tsarina) listen to a peasant unless he was telling them what they wanted to hear? Could one peasant visit so many prostitutes in one day? And; what really happened the night of Rasputin's death? What were the murderers motives and were they lying? These are some of the questions Radzinsky addresses. Rasputin was not the devil and his murderers were not all that noble.Excellent book about an interesting man and time. I believe I understand Rasputin and the Tsars a lot better! However; there are a number of mistakes noticeably after 70% through the Kindle version; such as "a" instead of "at" or "an." Some dates are written as "924" instead of "1924." No glaring mistakes; but they are there ... bottom line; I still very much enjoyed the book and the photographs at the end.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. I enjoyed this bookBy Kelly HendrixThis was a very interesting and thorough biography of one of the most legendary and mysterious character in recent history. The power he held over the Russian throne was unbelievable. I enjoyed this book; but it was very hard to get through! The translation was rough; so there was not a great flow. However; I would highly recommend it to anyone interesting in the subject.
